III.

History

Hamburg was founded as the fortress of Hammaburg, established by Charlemagne in 808 as a defense outpost. Extending his campaign to gain converts to Christianity, Charlemagne established a church in the vicinity of the fortress in 811. The church soon became a center of Christian civilization in Northern Europe and was subject to frequent attacks by hostile people. Hamburg became an archiepiscopal see in 834, but in 847, two years after the community was sacked by the Norse, the seat of the archbishopric was transferred to nearby Bremen.

Despite destructive raids by the Danes and Slavs, Hamburg endured and, in 1189, received a charter from the Holy Roman Empire. The charter, an award for services rendered during the Third Crusade, granted the city important commercial privileges. Defensive alliances with Lübeck in 1241 and with Bremen in 1249 led to the formation of the Hanseatic League; Hamburg became one of the league's most powerful and wealthy cities. In 1529 Hamburg accepted the Reformation, and the city became a haven for Lutheran, Calvinist, and Jewish refugees of Europe. During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the commercial prosperity of the city declined drastically. A brief revival, spurred by the establishment of trade ties with the United States in 1783, was terminated by the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), during which the city was occupied (1811) by the forces of Napoleon.

Reestablished as a free city after the downfall of Napoleon, Hamburg became a member of the German Confederation in 1815. The city recovered swiftly from the effects of the French occupation and continued to expand despite a destructive fire that lasted four days in 1842 and a cholera epidemic that resulted in 8605 deaths in 1892. A popular uprising in Hamburg in November 1918 heralded the overthrow of the German Empire, and for a short time (1918-1919) the city was constituted as a socialist republic. The towns of Altona, Harburg, and Wandsbek were incorporated into Hamburg in 1938.

As a submarine base and a center of the German war effort during World War II (1939-1945), Hamburg was severely damaged by Allied air raids, and many of its inhabitants were killed. It was rebuilt after the war and by the 1950s was an elegant, thriving metropolis. Population (2005 estimate) 1,734,800.